Story+1978-09-06+Chicago,+IL

´´This is uh....this is from my new album which is, I guess, not new any more, I don´t know, it´s been out a while (chuckles)....still new to me yet, this is ´Darkness on the Edge of Town´ ....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Darkness on the Edge of Town´**

´´This next song....this is uh....(someone yells ´Rosalita!´) oh, we´re gonna do that but we do that later, we do that in the second set....what ?...oh no (chuckles)....this song...this next song is a song, we were looking for...I was looking for a title for the album for a long time....and uh....when we first started making the record, it was originally called ´The Promise´ ´cause I had this song I wrote called ´The Promise´...and that song didn´t make it on....so for a while ....I was thinking of titling it after this next song we´re gonna do but I didn´t have the guts .... this was a song, it was written by....Mae Axton, Hoyt Axton´s mother...back in....yeah, I wish my mother´d wrote this song, it´s like....it´s uh ....it´s one of my favorite songs, it´s a beautiful song, ´Heartbreak Hotel´....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´´Heartbreak Hotel”**

´´I grew up in this small town, was about....a town called Freehold, New Jersey....and uh.... me, my mother and father and my grandparents, we all lived in this one house and it was a house that had the first, had the first church service in town and had the first funeral in town, in this house....and the church finally bought it, tore it down and turned it into a parking lot for Sunday mornings....but, uh, my grandfather, I remember he was....he was an electrician and he used to take these old second-hand radios and TV´s and fix ´em.....and when I was 5 years old, he used to take me with him outside of town.....´cause every summertime we used to have migrant workers who used to come up from the south to work on the farms....and he´d sell ´em out there....and my old man, he worked downtown at this plastics´factory.... and I remember my mother, she used to, if he forgot his lunch, she used to have me bring it down to him, I´d bring it down.....and I remember I´d go in, he´d be standing there....and all I remember was the sound, sound of the machines....so somewhere down at the end of lonely street....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Factory´**

´´I´ll simultaneously play two harmonicas on this song....oh, please, no rushing the stage, alright (chuckles) this is, uh, I was 18, my folks finally got sick of me and moved away from me and they packed up everything into their car and went to California where....it still wasn´t so great but it was better than it was....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´The Promised Land´**

"You gotta prove it all...night...long"
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Prove It All Night´**

´´This is for all the Chicago carboys....and anybody who ever wanted to go racing in the street....(music starts)....back home....in, uh....in Asbury, they got these two streets, Kingsley Avenue and Ocean Avenue....and uh....they form this big oval....and on Friday and Saturday nights they got.... what everybody does is go out and drive around in circles (chuckles)....and somehow it´s fun (chuckles)....and uh....I haven´t done that in a while, I got home for two days....got about ten circles (chuckles) yeah, like, used to do when I was 18 or 19, now I´m 28, I got a big bus, drive around in big circles (chuckles) ....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

´´There was this....there was this Robert Mitchum movie....about mooshine runners....and I never saw the movie, I only saw the poster (chuckles) and uh....took the name and wrote this song in 1974....but I never thought there was any place.....where this place actually was, you know....and uh, it was two....me and Steve and these two, these two other guys, we drove from Salt Lake City down into Reno, Nevada....and along the side of the highway out in the desert...there was a.....there was this house that this indian had built from stuff he´d scavanged off the desert....and out in front there was this big picture of Geronimo and over the top it said ´Landlord´....and he had this sign, it was a white sign....it was painted in red said ´This is the land of peace, love, justice and no mercy´....and it pointed down this little dirtroad, said ´Thunder Road´.....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Thunder Road´**

´´It all started one night....when I was asleep in bed (Roy plays a lullaby)....I was awoken by a strange sound.....I went to the window....I looked out....it was midnight, my 13th birthday... and it was the full moon....felt a little funny, closed the window, went back to bed.....went to school the next morning....ate my arithmetic book....and pissed in my desk....jumped up, shouted ´I´m free !´....and got sent home with a note that said I needed deep psychiatric attention....my mother took me down the Doc....Doc took one look at me, diagnosed me in ten seconds flat....found out that I wasn´t sick....that I wasn´t fucked up....but I....was a teenage werewolf....Doc said ´Son, how did you get this way ?´....I said ´Doc, I´m glad you asked me that...´cause one night.....for one moment..... (....) Well, this went on for years....used to have to.....every full moon.....used to haunt the arcades in Asbury Park.....used to have to walk around like this....so as not to get recognised ....with all that hair on your face and stuff, it´s easy to recognise you, you know....so walking around like this....that´s hard to do a long time too....and every once in a while somebody used to recognise me anyway....they´d go ´Hey, hey, you....ain´t you....ain´t that old you you ....you´re Al Pacino !....I saw you in a movie´ (chuckles)....anyway, my Mom and Pop got together with the Asbury Park police....decided I´d become much more than a local nuisance ....besides chasing the girls up and down the boardwalk....and impersonatin Al Pacino....I was without a doubt, a big pain in the ass....so they tried to get me....they cornered me one night on top of the ferris wheel, I jumped down onto the roof of the Palace Amusements, out in the middle of Kingsley Avenue....ran over to Asbury Avenue, started heading up towards the Route 35 Circle....had the whole Asbury Park police force on my tail, hit the Route 35 Circle, got on 33, went down into Freehold, started heading down 33 on my way to the New Jersey Turnpike....by now I had the Asbury Park police force, I had the Freehold local police, I had the state troopers, I had the New Jersey national guard, uh.....I had the United States army too, I had the, uh, United States marines, the U.S.navy (?) so I´m running up towards the turnpike, (?) turnpike, motor cooled down, heat went down, that´s when I heard that highway sound....they were catching up, they were just a mile behind me and I was getting tired, I was getting tired, they were right onto me and just as I was about to get caught....a black Sedan pulled over to the side of the road, I looked through the frontwindow ....and on the frontseat.....I saw a saxophone.....the driver rolled down the window, looked out....said ´Kid, I don´t know why you got all the people chasing you....I don´t know what you did....but how did you get your hair that way ?´....he said ´Well, I like your style, come on step inside´, got inside....hit it to the floor, we started screaming north, doing all of about ....55.....and then all I heard was the voice of the Asbury Park Police Chief, and if this isn´t true, may I be struck down right now....yelling at me ´Somebody, stop that kid with the gold guitar !´ but it was too late....” (....) "and after about a day we saw a sign that said 'Welcome to Chicago'...and it was bye-bye New Jersey, I was airborne!"
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Growin´Up´**

´´Baby, I remember you....little girl, I remember you.....standing on the corner....of Richmond Avenue, with your hair piled way up high and that crazy look in your eye for every boy that was passing you by and I swore.....back then I swore....that I´d drive all night....baby, I´d drive all night....little girl, I´d drive all night....just to buy you some shoes....and to taste your tender charms....to have you hold me in your arms....and for just one kiss....baby, just one kiss....baby, just one kiss.....and a look from your sad eyes.....you had such lonely, sad eyes ....and all the time they´d cry all night long....they´d cry all night long....they´d cry all night long....when I held you in my arms all night long....they were crying....and me, I was your fool....I thought that I could stop....your crying.....that I could stop your crying....but I didn´t know....I didn´t know....I didn´t know....that baby was lying....(?) they were lying....little girl, they were lying...you were so young and you could tell such pretty lies....they were lying.... they were lying....and now you´re back.....well, baby I´m back too....well, I´ve been out and I´ve seen some things....about me, about you....well, I found out.....we got to....little girl, we got to stop, little girl, you got to stop, little girl, we got to stop, little girl, we got to stop, little girl, we got to stop, little girl, we got to stop, little girl, we got to stop, little girl, we got to stop....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., middle of ´Backstreets´**

´´Oh, this is for, this is for the people from South Bend....that send me that stuff backstage, I´d like to thank you very much.....what?....ok....you gonna be there? alright (chuckles) oh, boy, let me think....(whistles) trying to whistle.....in a little cafe on the other side of Chicago (chuckles)....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Rosalita´**

´´Wanna thank everybody for coming down to the show, thank you very much....tonight this is number 71 so (chuckles).....I wanna thank you for the support that like....you´ve showed the band over the last two or three years when we were having the hard times and stuff.... just wanted to let you know that don´t go, doesn't go unappreciated so thank you very much .....this is for you....”
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Born to Run´**

"Are you ready for one more?...Can you stand it?...are you sure?...are you sure?...a-one a-two a-one two three four!..."
 * 06.09.78 Chicago, Ill., intro to ´Quarter To Three´**

(....) "very funny...you think I can do this all night long?...you think I'm crazy?...I think I'm gonna die up here, I'm gonna fall over...I gotta go home and get my beauty sleep...I got a date...I got a...I got a...uh...I better do it one more time!...."

(....) "I'm just a prisoner...of rock and roll!...a-one a-two a-one two three four!..."

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//